Just took a look at Mesh Fusion. It would be nice to do that sort of thing but with arbitrary meshes instead of their own primitives.

I'm going to look at combining the inflate image code with this too, so you can simply use an image as a template for the cut. That will let you do multiple detailed cuts based on designs from high-res images (for instance made in a 2D vector art program).

Another thing in the works is the ability to use your own curve to define a custom bevel shape.

Modern Mesh Fusion allows you to use your own meshes. They just include the Mesh Fusion meshes, which are just catmull clark sub-d meshes, because they've been tested and known to provide good results. The also originally included them because the original Mesh Fusion could not work with any tri-faces in your geometry. This is no longer the case.

The part that is really nice about Mesh Fusion is how it creates "strips" between what is subtracted or joined between meshes. You have a lot of control for how wide, how sharp, how soft the trim surface is. It's pretty great, actually. I'll try to dig up some videos on this and post the links here.

The latest version, included with MODO 11, allows for some cool ways to create awesome details on models. I'll try to find and post some links on that, too.

Strips is similar to my shaped bevels. With the advantage that you can tweak them dynamically. Any extra info would be helpful

I love a clean bevelled or rounded edge, makes objects feel so much more solid and lifelike than a sharp transition at the edge.

The more effects that I can get working with a dynamic preview the better - so much easier to work with lots of parameters if you can see the results as you tweak. Although there is a limit - I don't want the extra complexity of an unlimited action stack - so it will just be the most recent action that is live/dynamic.

Extending the current tech to allow boolean add and sub seems like a good idea. Much like the existing Weld command but with a precise bevel for the man-made look.

I dare say once the workflow is working OK I'll be able to optimise the speed to get live editing of at least the last edit.

I'm not really interested in going head to head with tools like this, but in the general course of Curvy modelling it will be very useful from time to time. At the moment I don't even think I want to consider sub-d, although it does have lovely modelling capability.

I've been researching lots of pictures, trying to spot shapes that are currently hard to make in Curvy. Smoothly curved armor with precise channels and indents caught my eye - really hard to do with existing tools, but conceptually trivial for the sculptor to describe as edges and lines. In any case I'm still trying to gather interesting test cases for shapes that might be fun to model with new tools (and aren't trivial to make with traditional mesh/sub-d modellers).

I agree. I like the idea of Curvy being a tool to quickly create complex images that can then be exported out for completion elsewhere. It is complex and fairly time consuming to create a human model from scratch in most 3D programs, but the parts and pieces are fairly easy to construct in Curvy. So, improving Curvy's workflow, how it stitches pieces together, general sculpting, etc., would be awesome.

I was bringing up Mesh Fusion mainly because of the new features you show here. But basic booleans, with add, subtract, and intersect, with control over the bevel/trim area, would seriously rock, imo!

High quality booleans is a total win if I can pull it off reliably. For many details it is so much more poly-efficient and accurate. And not just smooth primitives either - you could make a rough bullet hole or crack (in reverse) and cut that into an otherwise smooth surface. Or use a greyscale displacement map, that only subdivided the surface in the rough areas and left a neat seam on the edge.

It's also been quite a relief to not worry about the GUI complexity of these new features. I'm assuming I'll have loads of panels and controls but this time they will be usually hidden away until they are in use. I think an in-app tutorial for each feature (perhaps an optional video of image sequence) and clear feedback if the tool needs specific setup will make it much more approachable.

I think I will try and think of a better way to setup complicated operations - I'm not sure that the group parenting is the best way to do it. Some apps make you choose multiple objects in a certain order, and then apply an order specific command on them. With the first, or last, marked out as special. Even though it might be a little error prone, it should be more intuitive than the grouping technique.

I've got bevelled booleans on meshes working in a basic way - but it is currently quite slow and the edges must be clean and smooth to make a perfect join. So I'm going to work on smoother joining techniques as well as filters to improve the mesh quality around the cutting edge.